


let us go

by CrimsonPetrichor



Category: Kissing in the Rain (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-04
Updated: 2016-01-04
Packaged: 2018-05-11 20:13:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5640439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrimsonPetrichor/pseuds/CrimsonPetrichor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A year with Lily and James (and the press).</p>
            </blockquote>





	let us go

**Author's Note:**

> This was written as part of the 2015 Literary Inspired Webseries Gift Exchange, and if I'm being totally honest it was just three thousand words of self indulgent fluff with some vague journalistic excerpts to give it structure. Now that author reveals are rolling out, it felt like a good time to share it with the rest of the world.
> 
> I loved getting to revisit Lily and James and the extended Porter clan and I hope you all enjoy it, too. Let me know what you thought!

* * *

_“Fans of James Porter and Lily Everett have speculated for years over whether the perpetual co-stars shared an offscreen romance, and now it’s looking like the ‘shippers’ might be right. The internet has lit on a tweet published today on Everett’s account ( **@iamlilyeverett** ), where a photo in the background appears to show the actors spending the day together at the beach. Though the picture itself is a little blurry, intrepid fans have tracked down tweets by James Porter ( **@realjamesporter** ) and his sister Audrey ( **@iamaudreyporter** ) suggesting that it really is Porter in the photo. Are Lily and James just good friends or something more? Check out the tweets below, and then sound off in the comments!_

_**EDIT:** #Jily lives! In a pair of adorable simultaneous tweets on Friday afternoon, Porter and Everett have finally confirmed the longstanding rumors that they’re a couple.”_

\- ‘Porter and Everett finally together? The tweets that say it all’ from _E! Online_

* * *

Their publicists suggest that they turn off their phones. The questions will start rolling in immediately, they say -- polite-but-pushy requests from interviewers that they’re friendly with, awkward texts of congratulations from acquaintances not close enough to be in on the secret -- and it’s best to regroup and deal with those once they’ve all come in.

It’s still incredibly tempting to hop onto Twitter or check entertainment websites, though, so it becomes an all hands on deck situation. Sirius drives down from up north, Pam takes the day off, and Audrey blows off post table-read drinks for what she tells everyone is a ‘super important meeting’.

They hunker down at Audrey’s place, drop all of their technology into an ancient trick-or-treating bucket, and marathon the Lord of the Rings trilogy like this is a totally normal situation. The bucket sits on the ground next to the TV, covered with a faded Gryffindor blanket that does nothing to soothe their morbid curiosity.

James is the first to crack, halfway through _The Two Towers_. He manages a single step towards the bucket before a bunch of popcorn hits the side of his head. He turns back to the couch and catches another handful in the face from a grinning Sirius before Audrey flicks one last kernel at him for good measure.

He holds up his empty bottle and blinks innocently. “I just wanted a drink, guys.”

Audrey points a Twizzler at the kitchen behind her. “I think you’ll find that there’s a better drink selection in the fridge than in the DVD cabinet,” she says.

“That is...very possible,” James says, when his improv skills fail him and he can’t come up with a better excuse. “Anybody else want anything?”

All four of them raise their hands.

James sighs and shakes his head, but when Lily smiles knowingly at him from behind her glass, he can’t help but grin back.

* * *

_“With both 1940s-set **Let’s Say We Did** and screwball comedy send-up **Smith and Jones** under her belt, critics have repeatedly compared Lily Everett’s pinpoint delivery to that of the Great Kate herself. Everett is ‘incredibly flattered’ by the parallel. ‘I think it comes from the scripts that I choose,’ she says. ‘Not just the period piece aspect, but the fact that I’m really drawn to that kind of witty, precise dialogue.’ It’s exactly that kind of script that drew Everett to her current project, a star-studded and very secret production that’s rumored to be an all-female heist movie à la Sinatra’s **Ocean’s 11**._

_The movie’s stars have all been keeping mum on the subject, and Everett is no different. The only hint that I get is when I jokingly suggest that perhaps she’ll get to film a scene with a leopard named Baby. Instead of denying it, Everett only smiles enigmatically. ‘All I can say is that I now know a lot more about big cats than I ever expected to learn.’”_

\- from ‘Women of the Year: On Her 115th Birthday, Hollywood’s Keepers of Katherine Hepburn’s Legacy’ by Lucy Rivas for _Vanity Fair_ ’s May 2017 issue

* * *

Family dinners at the Porter home are a two (sometimes three) actor affair, and it’s never more obvious than when any of them have weirdly specific prep to do for a role or audition. Lily apologizes multiple times for having to practice with her butterfly knife, but if anything it just seems to amuse Mr. and Mrs. Porter.

It’s Henry’s first family dinner and he seems nervous when there’s nothing to do, so Lily strikes up a conversation with him about _I Capture the Castle_ , which turns to _Persuasion_ , which turns to the knife and whether the role that she’s preparing for might secretly be a lead in _Pride and Prejudice and Zombies_.

“I don’t think so,” Lily laughs. “But only because I prefer Emma and no one’s written about her vanquishing any supernatural foes yet.”

“Emma the Vampire Slayer?” offers Henry, and Lily decides that he and Audrey might actually be perfect for each other.

They have a conversation about Buffy and Dollhouse before Henry sees an opportunity to help out in the kitchen and excuses himself before making a beeline for the flatware. Audrey drifts over after a moment or two and answers Lily’s unasked question. “I think he’s weirded out by how small the family is.”

Lily furrows her eyebrows. “There’s _seven_ of us.”

“The last time less than ten people showed up at a Mancuso family event, I think there was some kind of blood feud going on,” Audrey says.

“I have to say, I didn’t realize that families still had blood feuds,” says Lily.

“It was the eighties,” replies Audrey. “We all made questionable choices back then.”

Lily’s still flipping the butterfly knife between her fingers as she opens the door for Ellen, who pauses for only the briefest second before pointing to the knife and asking, “Villain?”

She considers it for a moment, folding away the blade as she takes a bouquet of flowers from the eldest Porter sibling. “More like a very scary hero,” she finally says. “But I can't be scary if I drop the knife every two seconds, so nonstop practice it is.”

“Well,” says Ellen, “you definitely looked intimidating to me.”

Lily grins, appeased, and pockets the prop for the time being.

When they get to the kitchen, they see that James and Audrey have made a game of flinging berries at a pavlova that they were probably told to decorate in a slightly less violent fashion.

“Center ring!” calls Audrey, as a blackberry sails into the middle dollop of whipped cream. “That's five points, Jammsie. You're never going to win.”

James appears to accept Audrey’s challenge, because his next three turns bring him up to 14 points and tie the game.

They reach for their bowls of berries for one last round only to find that Sara and Henry have quietly eaten the last game pieces as they passed by to set the table, leaving the bowls empty and their tie unbroken.

James vows to reclaim his honor. His mother, surveying the somewhat lopsided meringue, replies, “When you do, could you try to score towards the left side? It’s looking a little patchy.”

(She has a point, but it’s still delicious.)

* * *

_“#1. **The LA Wonder Woman Premiere** : Porter paid tribute to her role as Princess of the Amazons in a Grecian-style Alexander McQueen gown. While sources close to the star confirmed that she has a very special gentleman in her life, there was no arm candy to be seen except a stunning _gold filigree cuff by_ Oscar de la Renta. Audrey’s date to the premiere was her younger sister, who echoed big sis’s sleek and simple style in a frock by Temperley London.”_

\- ‘Princess of the Glamazons: Audrey Porter’s 9 Best Looks of the Year’, by Nicole French for _InStyle.com_

\------

_Wonder Woman_ premieres in May, which means that Lily is on location in Monaco and James walks the red carpet alone. Behind the press is an ocean of screaming fans where someone in the distance holds up a poster that says ‘#JILY IS MY OTP’. He thinks it might sink down a little when the crowd sees that he’s alone, but he’s kind of glad. It’s Audrey’s night and he doesn’t want to steal any of her thunder.

Unfortunately, the press just won’t work with him. Five different interviewers interrupt him as he talks about how proud he is of Audrey, only to ask if they might hear wedding bells in the distance for him and Lily. He does his best to be charming and evasive, but it’s kind of exhausting, so he hustles down the red carpet to give Audrey a quick hug in the hopes that the photographers will accept the offering of an adorable sibling moment and let him slip away quietly. 

It’s an improvised strategy, but James knows that it really worked because his unflappable new publicist looks genuinely impressed.

They escort him into the theater and he sends a text to Lily.  _‘Update: experiment with press line strategy confirms that Penelope the Publicist can in fact smile. Porter siblings awed.’_

She texts back while he waits for them to escort Sara in.  _‘Pics or it didn’t happen.’_

He waves Sara over as she’s led into the building, then replies,  _‘Don’t know if I should be more offended by you not believing me or by the 2009 slang.’_

_‘Fine,’_ she replies, _‘I’ll just get my premiere updates from Sara. At least she appreciates a good throwback.’_

_‘Hey, I just autographed a Dancing in the Rain poster. My nostalgia is alive and well.’_

_‘James I love you, but sometimes I still have nightmares about having to do reshoots for that movie.’_

A moment later, she sends him another message.  _‘ _Heading to set now._ Make sure you introduce Sara to Henry Cavill but she might pass out in front of those biceps so stay close.’_

* * *

_“The BBC is producing a new mystery series centered on four young women at Oxford trying to solve the murder of their friend in the late 1940s, tentatively titled The Calm. Camilla Pennington-Jones (HBO’s The Faustus Chronicles) has already been tapped for one of the leads, and sources say that creators are looking to this side of the Pond for their next hire. Be sure to drop your casting suggestions in the comments below!”_

\- ‘TVLine Items: _Late Night_ shake-ups, BBC gets _Calm_ , and more’, by Yasmin Wilson for _TVLine.com_

* * *

There was a time, Lily remembers, when the idea of perpetually rainy London was charming. She used to imagine herself strolling serenely down wet streets, a big umbrella in one hand and a book (or a wand or a Narnian memento, depending on what phase she was going through) in the other.

What she discovers after her first few days in the city is that it’s significantly less charming when you actually have to do it. She’s visited a few times, for premieres and press and a family vacation when she was ten, but it’s different now.

The city’s still beautiful, of course: big, old buildings that somehow look a little grumpy and tiny streets that manage to have two lanes of traffic by defying the laws of physics. There are tiny bookshops that she can duck into and tourist-packed streets where no one notices her and tacky souvenir shops where she buys James some truly terrible British memorabilia.

It’s just...kind of lonely. Her co-stars are wonderful and they constantly invite her along to parties and brunches (and once, something that Lily is pretty sure was a pheasant hunting trip?), but they have lives here and she doesn’t.

It isn’t until a kind of pathetic Skype call with her family that Lily realizes it: she’s forgotten how to be alone.

“You used to say the same thing on bad days when you first moved to LA,” her mother says through the screen. “Then you found where you fit in and things got better. Just let yourself find that place again.”

So she explores the city on foot and takes cheesy Abbey Road selfies and studies up on Oxford’s history in the giant reading room at the British Library. She consults a professor about what a geography degree might have entailed in 1948 and finds really good gluten free scones and befriends the old lady who runs the flower shop across from their soundstage.

She still misses everyone back home, but she likes the reminder that she is still herself without them. It kind of makes her love them even more.

* * *

**@jilyshirbert** : ummm guys i think i just saw james on the esplanade??? what is happening???  
**@suchaghostslut** : @jilyshirbert Wait, James who?  
**@jilyshirbert** : @suchaghostslut JAMES PORTER, ALYA. JAMES PORTER.  
**@suchaghostslut** : @jilyshirbert WHAT? WHEN DID HE GET HERE?

\- Twitter conversation between Radhika (@jilyshirbert) and Alya (@suchaghostslut) of Tumblr’s _James Porter Fan Network_

**@realjamesporter** : I think my sisters just bought out every last item at Old Chang Kee. Sorry, Singapore. #theyreunstoppable  
**@sarabellum18** : @realjamesporter You’re just jealous that @iamaudreyporter and I can eat all this fried food since we’re not on superhero diets.  
**@iamaudreyporter** : @realjamesporter @sarabellum18 Can you guys stop tweeting so one of you can hold these sweet potatoes? #reallynotdextrousenoughforthis

\- Twitter conversation between James Porter (@realjamesporter), Sara Porter (@sarabellum18), and Audrey Porter (@iamaudreyporter)

* * *

Lily’s laughter bounces off the walls of James’s hotel room and for a second it feels like home. “It was _literally_ Downton Abbey,” she’s saying. “And then they all went skeet shooting in tweed and I pretended that I needed to make a phone call because I was worried that I might accidentally shoot a real bird.”

“I’m worried about what’s going to happen to these people when they find out that the sun finally set on the British Empire,” James says. “Will they be okay?”

“Well, when I say Downton Abbey, I mean like, season three, so they still have a few years before it all goes downhill.”

“Does it really get any more downhill than season three of Downton Abbey?”

“Probably not, actually,” says Lily after a moment. “So can you tell me anything about how the shoot is going, or will the Marvel snipers take you out if you try?”

James looks around his hotel room before leaning closer to his laptop and whispering conspiratorially, “It’s been good.”

Lily snorts, picking up a mug from somewhere out of frame and taking a sip. “Have you filmed your big rain scene yet?”

He shakes his head. “That’s tomorrow night. We spent all day going over the fight choreography because they’re giving us such a tiny window to shoot in.”

“And if you don’t get it?”

“There’s a plan B that involves green screen and a lot of CGI, but I think the consensus for every movie in the history of ever is that you should avoid reminding people of _Green Lantern_ , so...”

“So there’s really just plan A.”

James nods, then shrugs. “They were happy to hear that I’ve worked with rain rigs before, so at least I’ve got that going for me.”

“I’m not sure that you slipping and almost dragging me down an entire staircase with you counts as hand to hand combat, though.”

“Maybe we should’ve pushed for some spontaneous and illogical fight scenes during _Wait For It_ ,” says James. “I think that’s really what that movie was missing.”

“Really? Because I-” Lily breaks off, looking up at some unseen person across the room. She nods a few times, then turns back to James. “I have to go. They’re driving us back to London and then I’ve got the Graham Norton Show tonight and my mom flying in tomorrow morning.”

“Give her my best,” says James. “And good luck tonight. I don’t hate you.”

He catches her by surprise. Lily pauses for a split second as it processes and then beams at him. “I don’t hate you, too.”

* * *

_“Spotted: Lily Everett ducking out of London’s Le Gavroche without her main squeeze on her arm -- or even on the same continent! Does this mean trouble in paradise for #Jily?”_

\- Dan Skeeter, _The Daily Mail_ Online

* * *

_Syntax_ is playing on TV and it is raining incessantly outside.

This is not surprising, really. _Syntax_ is something of a cult classic. It’s pretty much a statistical certainty that at any given time in the English speaking world, _Syntax_ is playing on some TV channel somewhere.

(As for the rain, well, she’s in London.)

What’s nice about the movie is that it’s one of the few that she and James are in that she can actually stomach watching. (It helps, of course, that she’s not in it for more than a few scenes.) The ensemble is hilarious, and they embody their characters so fully that she kind of forgets that they’re her friends and she had drinks with one of them last week.

It’s great, too, to see James in a role that he had such a big hand in creating. One of her biggest regrets about the rocky start to their relationship is the fact that she didn’t get to talk to him about how his interpretation of Poe came about. Usually she jumps at the chance to chat with the writers, just to get a feel for where they’re coming from, but James had wounded her pride, and past Lily had decided that there was just no coming back from that.

(Incidentally, past Lily is now totally disqualified from any plans that she might have had to become a fortune teller.)

She lets the TV run as she drifts in and out of the room, writing emails and brewing a pot of tea.

It’s silly, she knows, but her apartment is quiet and she misses James’s voice and the time difference between them now is just bad enough that every time she thinks to call him, it’s 1 AM where he is.

She’ll do the grown-up thing tomorrow and set a super early alarm so she can catch him before he goes to set, but for now she has this.

They’re coming up on the world’s least romantic kissing scene -- mud in her boots, fake rain so heavy that James couldn’t open his eyes, and the oh-so-glamorous phenomenon of getting fake mustache hairs in her nose -- when her buzzer rings.

When she answers it, her assistant’s voice comes through the intercom.

“Lily, it’s me!” calls Alex. “I brought those scripts that I needed to drop off along with your shooting schedule for next week.”

("Edgar, you can’t be here,” says Annabel on the TV.)

Lily buzzes Alex in and pulls her cardigan tighter around her, opening her door at the first knock.

It’s not Alex.

“I was kind of in a rush, so I couldn’t find a ukulele,” says James.

(“For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams of the beautiful Annabel Lee,” says Edgar.)

There’s still a few lines left before her cue, she realizes, but she kisses him anyway.

* * *

_“Beginning in September, the Piccadilly Theatre will host the three month run of The Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Family Reunion. The adaptation of TS Eliot’s famous play will star American actor James Porter and British veteran of the stage Louisa Darrow. Porter had a memorable turn as Benedick across from Lily Everett’s Beatrice during the 2015 season of New York City’s Shakespeare in the Park and has since directed an independent adaptation of Macbeth which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2016.”_

\- _The London Evening Standard:_ August 25th, 2017

 


End file.
